borsari ristorante - 201 lygon st carlton 3053 9349 1444

i reckon three or four italian families got together and decided to set up a restaurant in the middle of lygon street. only thing is they couldn't agree on the best dishes to serve so they just included all of them. there must be fifteen starters and about thirty pastas and thirty mains. talk about indecision. if our ideal restaurant has a fixed menu and we'll put up with a choice between three or four starters, fifteen had us buggered. and i think that all the family members work at the same time at the restaurant. i didn't count but it seemed that the staff outnumbered the eating people. that's not a bad thing unless you want to actually stand up and move about. you're likely to be run over by the rome express on it's way to the kitchen with enough plates to equip a greek wedding.

another thing that i have to mention has nothing to do with the restaurant unless, of course, they encourage this kind of behaviour. picture homer simpson loosening his belt after eating and unzipping his trousers? this guy first looked like he'd been baking in the sun for a few hours. he was not a small man but at that point he was a very red not-small-man. when he got up to go he was carrying as many items of clothing as he was wearing. carrying - shoes, tie, and jacket. wearing - trousers (thank god), shirt, and socks. i should make it clear at this point that we just assumed there were undergarments involved but, as we were about to eat, the subject was left alone as much as you would probably not poke a sleeping bird spider lest it jump up and ruin your day.

back to the food. we had chargrilled seafood and a salad. the seafood was surprisingly very good even though i don't think it had actually looked at the top of a bbq plate, but the salad was a bit of nothing. it seemed to have the attitude that 'this is what i am. bugger off if you don't like me'. good attitude if you're a person but lousy attitude for a salad. we had a glass of wine but without spending serious bucks, it wasn't anything to run in the streets naked shouting about. i love the bread. not garlic, not herb, you philistines, just plain fresh bread. a restaurant that provides fresh bread (and as much of it as you desire) will surely rule the culinary world. well, they'll get a tip anyway.

a busy, bustling italian restaurant. should there be any other type of italian restaurant? that was rhetorical. it's certainly a great place to go with loud friends and see if you can really piss off loud italians, a true measure of your annoyance capability. love the seafood, will probably go back and try a pasta. not cheap but you're in the centre of lygon street. live with it.

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